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CONSTITUTION 



OF THK 



llalMinit Mit Cfllnninitiim k\m% 



AND THE 



©fficcrs fof tl)C |lcar 1852, 



An Address, by the Presideut, to the People of the State. 



MONTGOMERY: 

JOB OFFICE OF THE ALABAMA JOURNAL. 

1851. 



CONSTITUTION, &C. 



On the 10th December, 1851, a meeting was held in the City of 
Alontgomery, for the establishment of a State Colonization Society, 
at which the following Constitution was adopted : 

CONSTITUTION OF THE ALABAMA STATE COLONIZA- 
TION SOCIETY. 

Akticle 1. — The name of this Society is the Alabama State 
Colonization Society. 

Art. 2. — The object of the Society is to promote the emigration 
of free colored persons from the State of Alabama, to Africa. 

Art. 3. — The officers of the Society are a President, such num. 
ber of Vice Presidents as the Society may appoint, a Recording 
Secretary, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer, who are elect- 
ed annually, and remain in office until their successors are 
elected. 

Art. 4. — The President, or, in his absence, the Vice President, 
residing in the City of Montgomery, with the Secretaries and 
Treasurer, constitute an Executive Committee, who must meet 
from time to time, as may be necessary, and a majority of whom 
may act. 

Art. 5. — It is the duty of the Executive Committee to superin- 
tend the affiiirs of the Society — to fill all vacancies until the next 
annual meeting — to make the necessary arrangements for tiie re- 
moval of such free persons of color of this State as desire to emi- 
grate to Liberia — to receive subscriptions and donations in aid of 
the Society, and make report of their proceedings to each annual 
meeting thereof. 

Art. 6. — The annual meeting of the Socicly is in the City of 
Montgomery, on the 1st Monday in Januuiy, for the election of of- 
ficers and transaction of business, at which the President shall pre- 
side ; or, in his absence, one of the Vice Presidents. 

Art. 7. — Any person contributing annually to the Society a sum 
not less than two dollars, is a member thereof. Tlie payment of 
twenty dollars constituteg any person a life mr^mI)or. 



Art. S.^The Recording Secretary must keep a book, and re- 
cord therein the names of all the members, stating opposite their 
names which are life member?, and alsp record therein the trans- 
actions of the Society at its annual meeting, and of the proceedings 
of the Executive Committee. 

Art. 9. — The Corresponding Secretary must transact the cor- 
respondence of the Society. 

Art. 10. — The Treasurer must keep the funds of the Society, 
pay them out on the order of the Executive Committee, and make 
report to the annual meeting of the Society, or to the Executive 
Committee when required, the receipts and disbursements, and the 
amount on hand. 

Art. 11. — The Society, in conjunction with others which are, 
or may be established in the Southwestern States, having a similar 
object in view, may establish a Joint Colonization Board, to be lo- 
cated in New Orleans, for the purpose of aiding emigration to Li- 
beria, under such rules and regulations as may be agreed on. 

Art. 12 — Societies formed in any part of this State, having the 
same object in view, may, on application, become auxilliary to this 
Society. 

Art. 13. — The Vice Presidents have authority to receive the 
subscriptions of members, and such donations as may be made to 
the Society, forwarding the same to the Treasurer, as soon as prac- 
ticable after their receipt. 

Art. 14. — This Constitution may be amended by the vote of the 
majority of the members present at any annual meeting. 

The following gentlemen were elected officers of the Society : 

president. 

Hon. JOHN J. ORMONI), of Tuscaloosa. 

VICE PRESIDENTS. 

ELBERT A. HOLT, of Montgomery County, 

ABNER McGEHEE, " " ?? 

Hon. J. A. WINSTON, of Sumter « 

Hon. FRANCIS LYON, of Marengo " 

. Hon. W. P. CHILTON, of Macon " 

Hon. DANIEL COLEMAN, of Limestone " 
Gen. E. D. KING, of Perry 

Hon. D. G. LIGON, of Lawrence " 

Hon. L. TARRANT, of Talladega " 
Gen. MOSES KELLY, of Jefferson 

Hon. DANIEL E. WATROUS, of Shelby <' 



THEA SURER, 

E. M. HASTINGS, of Montgomery. 

RECORDING SECRETARY, 

L. B. HANSFORD, of Montgc^nepy. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 

Rev. A. A. LIPSCOMB, 



ADDRESS TO THE PJEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ALABAMA. 

The Alabama State Colonization Society, for the purpose of aid- 
ing free persons of color to eniigrate to Libera, having been organ, 
ized, the society desires to make known its true character ; its ob- 
jects and design ; and to satisfy the people of the State, that it is 
entitled to their sympathy and patronage. 

The objection which has been generally urged in this State, to a 
po-operation with the Colonisation Society of Washington City, is, 
that that Society is at least to some extent, either in the hands, or 
under the control of persons, many of whom are unfriendly to 
Southern institutions, and who favor that Society as a means of in- 
directly assailing the institution of Slavery in the Southern States. 
Whether this belief is well or ill founded, the effect is the same — 
a strong indisposition on the part of Southern men to affiUiate with 
t.hem. 

Jt is an undeniable truth, that the presence of the free colored 
man in the midst of a slave population, is a great evil, which is felt 
and acknowledged as such ; an evil which every consideration of 
self-interest prompts us to remove. Such is the sense of this evil, 
that at the present Session of the Legislature, the question has been 
rnooted, and referred to the Judiciary Committee for its solution, 
"whether laws may not be passed, consistent with the Constitution, 
requiring them to leave the State. There is now, and has been for 
many years, a most stringent law upon our statute book, requiring 
all free persons of color who have come to the State since 1832, to 
leave it ; and our law forbids the emancipation of slaves within the 
State. It is then, manifest, that the presence of the Free Negro 
amongst us, is considered an evil of the first magnitude, and an 
evil which cannot be removed from amongst us by the passage of 
laws. 



In this condition of tilings, the American Colonization Society 
ofTers to unite with us, and lo aid in their removal, and we decline 
the prulFered aid, and refuse our co-operation. Surely, then, we 
are called on by every consideration which can impel reasonable 
men to action, to put our own shoulders to the wheel. The laws 
which have been passed to drive them from the State, have been 
rendered ])owerless, by the sympathies of our own people. These 
considerations, have led to the organization of the Alabama State 
Colonization Society. By reference to the constitution, it will be 
seen, that it has no connection with the Society at Washington, and 
can only have connection with other similar Societies in the South- 
west. It being, then, distinctly admitted that the evil exists — that 
the law is powerless to remove it — that it can only be removed by 
a union of individual eflbrt, Ave confidently expect that southern 
men will gladly avail themselves of the only feasible mode of eradi- 
cating this acknowledged evil. It is perfectly obvious that the 
free negro has neither the means nor the intelligence, to provide 
for his own emigration. No matter how much he may be disposed 
to lcy.ve a country, where, although it is the land of his birth, he is 
in fiict an alien and a stanger ; where, although he is an object of 
distrust and suspicion, and must forever continue a member of a 
degraded caste, he is nevertheless compelled to remain without the 
hope of being able to better his condition, and without the stimulous 
thereby afforded to exertion. 

The question has thus far been considered merely as regards 
our own interest in the transportation of the free colored population, 
but there is a higher elevation from which it may be viewed, and 
one which comes home to the bosom and conscience of every Chris- 
tian and Philanthrophist, who acknowledges the obligation of doing 
all the good in his power. Africa is involved in the darkness of 
paganism, relieved at scattering intervals, by a scarcely less revolt- 
ing Mab-jmedanism. That vast continent is the abode of wretched- 
ness, and vice, and misery, so fearful, that the mind shrinks back 
aghast from its contemplation. Scarcely a ray of civilization has 
vet penetrated that benighted region ; and if we may judge of the 
future from the past, never will, but througli the agency of the 
l»lack man civilized und christianized by intercourse with tlie 
whites. Ilis constitution will enable him to withstand the deleteri- 
ous influence of the climate of Africa, to wJiich so many white 
men have fallen a saeriiicc, and by precept and c\amj)le, teach 



them the arts of civilized lite, reclaim tliom from barbarism, and 
carry among them the blcssinajs of Christianity and civilization. 

Do wo mistake our countrymen, in supposing they will join us 
in the only feasible plan for the accomplishment of an object 
which self-interest, religion, and philanthrophy, alike demand ? 
We are satisfied we do not, and therefore confidently and earnestly 
solicit their aid. Any donations which may be made, will be sa- 
credly devoted to the purpose indicated by our Constitution, or in 
accordance with any particular direction which may be given to it 
by the donor. Come forward then, fellow citizens, and join us in 
urging forward this cause, so emphatically the cause of our country, 
and of humanity. 

Montgomery^ Dec. Wth, 1851. 



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